Former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary sues university for defamation, misrepresentation

Mike McQueary's lawsuit accuses former Penn State president Graham Spanier of making him a scapegoat in the Jerry Sandusky case. (Alex Brandon/AP)

The former Penn State assistant football coach who said he saw convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky assault a boy in a campus shower filed a defamation and misrepresentation lawsuit against the university on Tuesday.

Mike McQueary's whistleblower suit, filed in Centre County, Pa., court seeks millions of dollars in compensation for the anxiety, humiliation and embarrassment McQueary says he has suffered since Sandusky was arrested in November.

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The suit says that former Penn State president Graham Spanier met with the university's athletic department staff shortly after Sandusky was arrested to express support for athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz, who had been charged with perjury and failure to report sexual abuse. McQueary says Spanier's statements were intended to protect Penn State's reputation and make McQueary a scapegoat.

McQueary claims that Spanier "clearly suggest(ed) that (McQueary) was lying in his reports and testimonies that he had reported the sexual misconduct" during the meeting with athletic department staff.

Jerry Sandusky is awaiting his sentence for sexually abusing boys while at Penn State. (Andy Colwell/AP)

Penn State officials did not renew McQueary's contract. He was placed on administrative leave on Nov. 11. He alleges he was let go because he cooperated with investigators and testified at a preliminary hearing against Curley and Schultz. He wants reinstatement, legal fees, back pay and benefits through the Sandusky trial, among other things.

Curley has taken a leave of absence and Schultz has retired from the university. Both men have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

He testified at Sandusky's trial this summer that he saw Joe Paterno's longtime defensive coordinator anally raping a boy in a campus shower in 2001.

McQueary reported the assault to the iconic coach, who notified Curley and Schultz. Paterno, who died after a brief bout with lung cancer in January, was fired for his role in the Penn State sex abuse scandal.

Sandusky was convicted in June on dozens of charges that he sexually abused 10 boys. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week and is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.